This non-provisional application and incorporates by reference the subject matter of Application No. 2001-4460 filed in Japan on Oct. 25, 2001, on which a priority claim is based under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119(a).
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle body side structure that is applied to a joint where a lower part of a pillar and a side sill are joined to each other in a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional vehicle, a variety of reinforcements, bulkheads, and the like are disposed at a joint where the lower part of a front pillar and the front part of a side sill are joined to each other. In particular, since a door hinge mounting part is required to withstand a heavy load, the door hinge mounting part is configured to have a high stiffness in the vicinity of the joint where the lower part of the front pillar and the front part of the side sill are joined to- each other. Therefore, at the joint where the lower part of the front pillar and the front part of the side sill are joined to each other, a thick hinge reinforcement configured separately from a side sill reinforcement is provided at the reverse side of the door hinge mounting parts.
For the reasons stated above, a number of parts are required in the vicinity of the joint where the lower part of the front pillar and the front part of the side sill are joined to each other, and this requires a large number of man hours for assembly.
In view of the above, it would therefore be desirable to provide a vehicle body side structure that is capable of reinforcing door hinge mounting parts of a pillar and simplifying the arrangement of a joint where the lower part of the pillar and a side sill are joined to each other.
To attain the above object, the present invention provides a vehicle body side structure in which a side sill reinforcement is disposed inside a closed section formed by an outer side structure and an inner side structure. The side sill reinforcement is provided to extend from a front pillar to a side sill, and is constructed at least such that a front part disposed along the front pillar has a different plate thickness than a part extending along the side sill and that a support part intended for supporting a door hinge mounting parts from a vehicle inner side of the outer side structure is provided in the part disposed along the front pillar.
The above arrangement is capable of reducing the number of parts at a conventional reinforcing portion while keeping the stiffness around the door hinge mounting parts, since the side sill reinforcement is constructed such that the part disposed along the front pillar has a different plate thickness than the part extending along the side sill. Furthermore, a support part of the side sill reinforcement reinforces the door hinge mounting parts of the front pillar.